Explore Uttarakhand

Binsar is a dark-forested wildlife sanctuary crowned by Zero Point, where oak and rhododendron woods part for a panorama from Kedarnath to Nanda Devi. Colonial-era estate houses and forest lodges keep it hushed.

Sattal, the 'seven lakes', pools beneath a forested bowl that is one of India's richest birdwatching corners. Kayaks, hides and forest trails keep it wild and quiet.

Jim Corbett, India's oldest national park, folds sal forest, grassland and the Ramganga reservoir into the best tiger habitat on earth. Dawn jeep safaris from Dhikala and Bijrani are the stuff of lifelong memories.

Rajaji's shivalik forest between Haridwar and Dehradun holds one of India's densest elephant populations, along with tigers, leopards and great hornbills — and it's the easiest safari from either city.

The Valley of Flowers, a UNESCO World Heritage site, blooms with hundreds of high-altitude wildflower species beneath the Ratban Parbat walls — a meadow so bright it changed botanical history. entry is strictly regulated to protect it.

Around Nanda Devi, India's second-highest peak, lies one of the world's most strictly protected mountain sanctuaries — a ring of peaks and glaciers that few outsiders have entered. Nearby viewpoints and meadows offer the practical experience.

Gangotri National Park guards the Bhagirathi's glacial headwaters — snow leopard country, blue sheep cliffs and the great Gangotri glacier. Even the drive in, through deodar gorges, is spectacular.

Govind Pashu Vihar, the great forest of the Tons valley, shelters snow leopards, Himalayan black bears and the westernmost populations of many alpine species — and holds the trails of Kedarkantha and Har Ki Dun.

The Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary, Garhwal's largest protected forest, wraps the Tungnath–Chopta–Mandakini highlands in musk deer and monal country. Rhododendron forests here turn the trails crimson each spring.

Binsar Sanctuary is 45-odd square kilometres of deep oak and rhododendron forest around a single grand ridge — leopards, barking deer, 200+ bird species and the Zero Point snowline panorama.

Askot, in the shadow of the Panchachuli walls, protects musk deer and alpine forest along the old Tibet trade routes — one of Kumaon's least-visited wild corners.

Asan Barrage, the wetland where the Asan meets the Yamuna, is a migration magnet for waterfowl — red-crested pochards, coots and waders by the thousand in winter, right on the Dehradun–Paonta road.

The classic trek through a UNESCO wildflower amphitheatre below Hemkund's peaks — green gorge, silver river and a floor of blooms that peaks in the monsoon.

Tiger country and lake lights — an official dawn safari in Corbett's grasslands followed by two days around the Naini Lake.